“And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken” (1 Kings 18:24).
TEXT — 1 Kings 18:17-29
Message
An American missionary who went to an Asian nation was disappointed that he was not winning souls for Christ in spite of the huge financial and human resources sunk into the project. He suddenly remembered that Jesus called the believer to demonstrate the power of the gospel while preaching. During a crusade, he picked three physically deficient persons — a deaf, a blind woman and a cripple. The preacher prayed in the name of Jesus and the first two were healed. With the lame, he said he would pray first in the name of a religious prophet and thereafter in the name of Jesus to consider who to believe between both. Nothing happened as he cried in the prophet’s name. But with Christ’s name, the lame stood on his feet. There was an uproar as thousands trooped to the altar asking to be saved by Jesus.
At this time, the nation of Israel had been brought under the bondage of idolatrous worship of Baal. There must be an evident and indubitable show of who was superior, the almighty God or the helpless Baal. Elijah arranged a contest between the two and announced the terms and conditions for the duel. It turned out a tragic disgrace for Baal and his followers.
Man and his earthly creations in the shape of idols, education or achievements can never overthrow or effectively replace God. He has absolute and supernatural powers that cannot be supplanted. They come to misery who attempt to challenge His authority. God makes unlimited powers available to His faithful servants as they confront the enemies of the church who wield demonic spiritual weapons to stop us. We are assured of the consuming power of God on the battlefield of evangelism and in all our endeavours to live holily as we await the Lord’s second coming. “The gates of hell,” the Lord says, “will not prevail against (us)” (Matthew 16:18).
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
